


Alone

by neonkorok



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst With A Bittersweet Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Violence, Death, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Graphic Description of Wounds, I’m so sorry, Linked Universe, Stabbing, Violence, but the comfort takes a while to come, hyrule please forgive me for i have sinned you, lots of death, seriously there’s a lot of blood don’t read if that makes you uncomfortable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 08:50:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21268337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonkorok/pseuds/neonkorok
Summary: For as long as Hyrule could remember, he’d been alone. Even when he’d been surrounded by people on his journey, he’d never had a true companion. Once he’d been united with eight other heroes from different times, he didn’t really expect that to change.But it did.For a while, at least.





	Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hhhhh this one’s an angsty ride, so be careful if you don’t think you can handle it. There is a happy…ish ending, so if you ride out the storm, you will get to see some sunshine on the other side. Please read the tags, though, to make sure you can handle that storm.
> 
> With that said, I hope you all enjoy!

For as long as Link could remember, he had been alone.

This wasn’t something that brought him great sorrow or anything of the like; it was simply the way things were. As a child, he’d had vague memories of a warmth surrounding him in the cold, of gentle smiles and gentler hands, but they were so fuzzy he thought they may have just been a dream. They had all but faded like one by the time he was seven.

The first true affection he’d ever been shown was by an old man who gave him a sword when he was fifteen so he could save the kingdom from ruin. He wasn’t entirely sure that counted as affection, but he would take what he could get, especially since the only other people he interacted with were those passing through the woods and caves where he dwelled, and whose eyes only held either pity or disgust. The old man…his eyes had neither. They only held resolution. He knew Link could complete the task set before him, and so gave him the tools needed to do so. It was the most faith and pride anyone had ever shown in him, and it was enough to get him going and keep him going even when he was at his lowest. Someone believed in him, someone trusted in his abilities, and he wasn’t about to let them down.

After the Great Evil was vanquished, he started to go into the towns around the kingdom more often, and the people seemed oddly more welcoming. He would always get a discount on the already dirt-cheap goods the townspeople sold, and he might get a smile and a wave as he passed, but that was all. He figured they just weren’t sure how to interact with him, the Hero of their land, and so he allowed them to keep their distance as he kept his own. At least the pity and disgust were no longer there.

Sometimes he would spend a whole day just walking around a town, relishing in the simple comfort that came from being around other people. He would leave as the sun set every night to make camp in a nearby woods, but that comfort from the daylight hours would stay with him long after he woke the next day and left on his travels again. (He always was a restless spirit.)

This routine fell apart, of course, when he began to be hunted by the agents of Ganon, the foul monsters who wanted to spill his blood to revive their master. They were always watching, waiting for an opening, and if they saw one while he was in a town full of people, they would not hold back. Civilian casualties were nothing to them but more blood for their master.

He’d learned that the hard way.

And so, his isolation began once again. He only passed through towns when absolutely necessary, and he never stayed for long. In and out, get what you need and go. Then _keep going._ Don’t tarry, don’t hesitate, or it will be their blood on your hands. Again.

As he walked in solitude through the endless wilderness of the land, he found himself missing that simple comfort of having people around. There was an ache in his chest that had never been there before, one which almost threatened to choke him if he breathed too deeply. He missed people, people who didn’t even have names and barely had faces in his mind <strike>people who gave him warmth in the cold and were gentle, oh so gentle</strike>. But he pushed his emotions away. Pushed his own sense of self away. He couldn’t afford to miss people he barely even knew. It would only be a distraction. And distraction could mean the difference between life and death. When this was all over, then he could cry. Then he could miss those simple comforts. But for now, he just had to pick himself up. Keep going. Don’t hesitate. Don’t tarry. <strike>Their blood on your hands.</strike>

And then another evil was vanquished, and the land was free and safe once more, a princess long thought dead returned. But Link didn’t return along with her. He barely ever left the forests, the caves, the wild anymore. He thought back to the monsters tracking him down, striking without mercy, not caring who got in their way so long as they died easily under their supernatural strength, and he knew that he couldn’t go back. That it would be for the best. It wasn’t like any of the people would miss him anyway. After all, they probably didn’t even know his name.

<strike>Was it even Link? He couldn’t remember anymore. That name was all he’d ever known, but who knew if his memory had warped it over time? Who knew if that was just a dream as well?</strike>

Then, he suddenly wasn’t alone any longer. Out of nowhere, he’d been united with eight different heroes dragged through time, all sharing that same name he’d thought he’d once known, leaving him to come up with his own new name. (Hyrule, after the land that he both equally loved and hated.) Eight heroes—eight _people_ who all cared about him and his well-being. Who kept him safe and prompted him to do the same for them. Who never once looked at him with pity, nor disgust, nor awe, nor even resolution. Who only ever looked at him with pride and love.

It was hard to get used to it all—the constant companionship, the constant conversation, the constant attention—but he adapted. Just like he always did. After just a few weeks of traveling, he realized he didn’t know what his world would be like without these loud, nosy, overbearing <strike>brothers</strike> companions he’d suddenly gained. He could no longer imagine life without them. And that terrified him.

Right from the beginning, he knew that there would be a day when they would all part. He knew that, like all things, this journey with <strike>his family</strike> these people would end. That it was only a matter of time. That it was inevitable. No matter how often, how _hard_ he tried to push it from his mind, the thought was always there, taunting him.

And then they lost one of them.

They’d been traveling through an open field in Sky’s Hyrule, off their guard as they believed they would be able to see anything that dared to approach their group of warriors, which proved to be a fatal mistake. They’d been caught by surprise by the Yiga, who they had never expected to find anywhere outside of Wild’s Hyrule, though they really should have seen it coming after monsters from different times had started showing up together a few weeks ago. One moment, they had all been laughing and joking around; the next, Wind lay on the ground, gasping and choking on his own blood, a sickle sticking crookedly out of his back. The ensuing battle had been hard and bloody, but no more of their number had fallen. By the time they were able to turn their attention to their youngest one, he was already gone.

Hyrule had always been the quietest Link, but after that, he barely said a word. Legend was constantly by his side, trying to offer him comfort as best he could, but it was too much. It was all just _too much._ A few nights after the death of his youngest brother (because that’s what he _was, godsdamn it),_ Hyrule left the group under the cover of darkness. It was supposed to be his watch, but he knew the others would be fine if he left. They could handle themselves. They were strong.

Hyrule…Hyrule wasn’t.

The moment he found a small cave to rest in, Hyrule was crying, _sobbing,_ for the first time in years. Every single emotion and thought he’d tried so hard to lock away came rushing to the forefront of his mind, drowning him. The waters of pain and loss flowed freely from his eyes, and he cried himself to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he slept, but when he woke up, Wolfie was standing outside of the cave, illuminated by the setting sun. Hyrule wasn’t sure whether to cry or laugh at the sight, so he just stood up and followed the canine back to the others in silence.

He didn’t leave again. He got a stern talking-to from Time for abandoning the group while he was on watch, leaving them vulnerable, but that wasn’t what made him stay. What made him stay was the fact that Legend had gotten hurt while he was gone, had gotten hurt _looking for him._ It wasn’t a major injury, really more of a glorified cut than anything, and he didn’t blame Hyrule for it, but it affected him all the same. He couldn’t justify leaving the others behind if it meant they were just going to place themselves in danger trying to get him back. He couldn’t bear to be the reason one of the others got hurt. He’d hurt enough of them already.

After all, if he’d just reacted a second sooner, Wind might still be alive. The blood on his hands was already more than thick enough.

He tried his best to always stay close to the group from then on. He wouldn’t even leave to go get firewood or look for food unless at least two other people went with him. It irritated the others to no end, but it eventually led to him never being asked to do so again, so he figured it was worth it in the end. Anything to make sure the others were safe.

Wild and Twilight were the next to go.

This time, it was undeniably Hyrule’s fault. The others had left Hyrule to watch the camp while they scouted out the area to make sure they would be safe through the night. He’d fallen asleep not ten minutes after they left, the exhaustion of constantly skipping sleep to make sure the others were alright finally getting to him (and wasn’t that ironic?).

Wild and Twilight had split from the group to have a conversation about something, and they’d been ambushed by far too many monsters for just the two of them to handle while the others were too far away to notice. Twilight had brought Wild’s broken and bloody body back into camp, unable to wake Hyrule up to ask him for help before he passed out. Hyrule had awoken to two corpses, and the others had come running back at the sound of his screams and pleas to a deity that had long since abandoned him. Legend had gathered Hyrule in his arms, telling him it wasn’t his fault. Hyrule remembered gentle smiles and gentler touches, and he felt something inside him break. <strike>He hadn’t even known there was anything left of himself to be broken.</strike>

Legend became stuck to his side once more, and Hyrule let him stay there. He didn’t have the energy to fight him. Didn’t have the energy to care. He slept even less, worried even more, until he passed out in the middle of a battle, getting a few broken ribs for his troubles.

Sky was put in charge of making him sleep, and he stayed awake that night curled up in his brother’s embrace until he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. He slept for eighteen hours, and he cried when the others told him they’d stayed at camp all day for him. He didn’t want to hold them back. He didn’t want to make them sitting ducks for the monsters he _knew_ were lurking in the shadows, just waiting for an opening. They didn’t listen to reason, and told him he’d needed the rest. He was warned against missing sleep and told they would travel again the next day.

So, of course, another one of them died in that camp. Or, rather, a part of one died.

Hyrule had always known that Four was hiding something from them, so it came as little surprise to him when a loud crash woke him up in the night and he opened his eyes to see four copies of his brother, all dressed in different colors, battling a group of moblins and bokoblins that had snuck up on them. He barely even paused to take in what he was seeing before he joined in the fight, not holding back against these creatures which dared to bring danger to the ones he loved.

He got carried away, riding through the battle on a wave of emotions, losing sense of his surroundings, leading to a club crushing his leg when his back was turned. He fell, unable to get back up through the pain, and the blue copy of Four came over to defend him. Hyrule tried to warn him, tried to shout out that another moblin was swinging its club at his head, but all that came out was a whimper, unheard over the carnage. Blue fell beside Hyrule, and he crawled slowly, painfully over to cover his body. To protect him in the only way he currently could. In the end, it made no difference.

Four was devastated when they were forced to reform with only three parts of their being, each of the three placing a hand on the hilt of Blue’s sword as they lifted their own skyward and became one (or as much of _one_ as they could be anymore). From then on, Four never seemed fully there. There was a part of them missing, and everyone could see that they weren’t coping well with that loss. Maybe it wasn’t possible for them to.

And it was all Hyrule’s fault.

Hyrule went silent again, even within his own mind. He was barely aware of the passage of time, only eating and sleeping when he was prompted to, but never putting up a fight. He knew the others were hurting, that they should be able to focus on themselves and not worry about him, but it was like he was a stranger watching through the eyes of someone else. He felt separated from his body, out of control, but there was nothing he could do. Nothing he wanted to do. So he let himself drift. It was the only way, he thought, that he could carry on. And it worked well enough.

And if he lay awake one night listening to Warriors’s cries and muttering that he’d _already lost too much, godsdamn it, Hyrule, you can't leave me before you’re even truly gone, too,_ that was for only him and the stars to know.

The six heroes, all that remained of them, eventually found themselves in a Lost Woods, unable to tell if it was one of theirs or one of the lost’s. Legend, Time, Warriors, Sky, Four, and Hyrule made camp under the cover of mist and darkness, careful to keep their fire from burning too bright. They had no idea how to navigate this place, walking blindly through the underbrush and hollowed out trees with nothing but the light of Legend’s lantern to guide them. Finally, after wandering for days, they stumbled upon a large clearing where the air was clear enough to see the trees on the other side. Standing in the middle of the clearing, a wide, animalistic grin on his face, was Dark Link.

His face morphed as the heroes approached him, taking on the appearance of Wind, Wild, Twilight, and Four before finally settling upon Hyrule’s form. The actual Hyrule shivered as he looked upon the dark version of his own face. Even on a monster, he could see the exhaustion and pain visible in the droopiness of his eyes, the weary slump of his shoulders. Was that what he had become? Is that what he really looked like now?

He looked upon his own face, and he wondered if he was one of the ones who had been lost, too. Wondered if he’d been lost a long time ago.

Before the fight, there was no exchange of words. There was no evil villain monologue, no explanation for why Dark Link had done what he had, had tortured them so. There was only silence and then the desperate battle cries of six warriors as they charged their final, greatest foe with a shared, burning vengeance.

It was a long and bloody battle. Within the first five minutes, Legend had lost his footing and nearly been crushed by a lynel’s hooves, Time had nearly lost his head, and Hyrule had gotten punched in the stomach so hard he threw up. They never stopped their assault, however, not willing to face the consequences of their failure. Yet, even as they persevered, even as they kept fighting _(don't hesitate, blood on your hands, gentle touches)_, they failed.

Hyrule left Warrior’s back unguarded for a moment, _a single moment,_ and the hero fell to the grass with a shadowy sword in his back. Hyrule almost laughed at the thought that he looked just like Wind had what seemed like so long ago, but he kept himself in check. Now was not the time. The sword quickly dissipated into smoke, reforming in Dark Link’s hand, taking the last of Warriors’s life with it. It was all Hyrule could do not to break down right there. Warriors’s eyes stared vacantly up at him as he walked away, and he wished he’d at least had the time to close them.

Hyrule looked down at his hands, almost expecting to see blood on them where they gripped his sword and shield. As far as he was concerned, they were covered in it.

The battle was by no means easy from there on out. It was a bloodbath on both sides. Just as the heroes had begun to corner Dark Link, swords raised to end his reign of evil once and for all, more monsters came pouring into the clearing, taking them by surprise. They were forced to back off, taking a defensive stance as the monsters slowly separated them, leaving them all vulnerable. Hyrule could no longer see his brothers through the sea of enemies, but he could still hear them.

Hylia, he wished he couldn’t.

It started with Sky, his panicked shouting turning to screams far too quickly. Then Four was screaming, their voice full of terror and agony, and Hyrule’s eyes burned as he cut down yet another bokoblin. Time was next, his cries the loudest of all. But Legend…Legend’s were the worst.

He was calling out for Hyrule.

Hyrule froze, nearly getting a slash across the chest and a club to the back for his moment of weakness. He ducked and rolled just in time, coming up behind a lizalfos and running towards the sound of his brother’s voice. All other sound faded around him as he broke through a circle of monsters and found his brother crying out his name, frantic as he slashed wildly at the encroaching enemies. They made eye contact as Legend performed a spin attack, and suddenly they were fighting back-to-back, them against the world. Hyrule realized he could no longer hear the others screaming. He hoped that was a good sign. He didn’t allow himself to contemplate any other option.

They fought for what felt like hours. Exhaustion slowly crept into Hyrule’s bones, but he didn’t let himself slow for even a second. Hesitate. Bloody hands. Gentle. Brother, keep going.

Keep _going._

Eventually, there was an opening. The smallest gap opened up between Hyrule and Dark Link, and he ran through it without even a moment’s hesitation. Dark Link barely even had a chance to turn around before Hyrule’s sword was thrust into the monstrous being’s torso.

A silence fell over the clearing, Hyrule’s panting breaths and pounding heart the only thing he could hear. Dark Link looked up at Hyrule with a cruel smile, his face morphing into a twisted version of Legend’s. A stream of blood trickled out of the monster’s mouth as he slumped over Hyrule’s sword. He pushed the dark being off the blade, watching him fall limp to the ground. Black liquid seeped out onto the grass, wilting every blade it touched.

Then the silence passed. The monsters cried out at the loss of their master, and Hyrule took a shuddering breath before hefting his sword once more. The fight was far from over. He couldn’t give up now.

He found Sky hacking away at a silver lynel, his right arm hanging limply at his side, and rushed over to help. There was blood, so much blood, on his brother’s side, but he just had to pretend that it was someone else’s, some_thing_ else’s.

Together, they took down the lynel, quickly moving on to eradicating the rest of the flock of monsters once it was defeated. They split up at some point, and Legend rejoined Hyrule, looking no worse for wear. They felled a wizzrobe and another lynel together.

It must have been hours before the field was full of nothing but death, the three heroes all that remained. Hyrule, Legend, and Sky were the only ones left standing, and Sky was badly injured. His arm wasn’t limp just because it was tired. It was barely even attached to his body anymore. After a few quick, clean cuts and a hot sword to the open wound, it was no longer attached at all.

They searched through the bodies of the monsters for their brothers, and Four’s was the first they found. Or, really, the first three.

They must have split during the battle, hoping to give themselves an advantage, but it was to no avail. They each looked to have been killed in different ways, but they died in each other’s arms. At least now they could be whole again, reunited with their lost brother. At least, that’s what Hyrule told himself. <strike>He didn’t let himself think about branching timelines or current time periods. Now wasn’t the _time_ for that.</strike> They each took one of the bodies and dragged them over to an area relatively clear of monsters before going to search for any other survivors or corpses.

The next to be uncovered was Warriors. He was exactly where Hyrule had left him, stare just as wide and vacant. He finally allowed himself to crouch down and slide his eyelids closed. Warriors looked almost peaceful after that. Hyrule hoped he was. He deserved to be. Legend brought him over to Four while Sky and Hyrule continued to search for Time.

It was a long few minutes before they finally discovered where their leader had fallen. He was crushed underneath the corpse of a lynel, his sword sticking out of the monster’s neck. He was still alive, though barely so. Hyrule did everything he could to heal him, his magic completely spent after endless castings of every single healing spell he knew, but Time never seemed to improve for all his efforts. It wasn’t until Legend came back and shoved the lynel off of him that he realized why that was.

After all, it would take more than just a few spells to sew two halves of someone’s body back together.

Hyrule finally gave up when he realized there was no use, that even if he’d had twice as much magic in reserves and an endless supply of potions, Time simply couldn’t be saved. He looked down at his leader’s—his _father’s_ face, and watched as it finally drained of life completely. Like Warriors, his eyes remained open in death, and Hyrule helped close them so he might finally rest. His body was the easiest to bring over to the others. Small mercies.

Their fallen allies were given a slow, painful burial, small graves dug for each of them into the ground of their final battle. Hyrule wished they had the ability to carry them all out of the Lost Woods and find a proper resting place for them, but the three that remained barely had enough strength to bury them there as it was. They couldn’t even leave markers for them. The only things which might have been suitable were the weapons of the very enemies that killed them.

As they finally left the clearing, slowly but surely making their way through the foggy woods, Hyrule pretended the wetness he felt on his face was just from the fog in the air. Just condensation.

Blood. Hands. Family. Going.

Lost.

Eventually, the three boys made it to another clearing, the air clear of the overwhelming fog. A large stone pedestal stood surrounded by woodland creatures, and Legend told them he recognized where they were. This was where he’d first drawn and last replaced the Master Sword. The pedestal was now noticeably empty, and the blade on Sky’s back began to glow as they entered the clearing. He drew the sword awkwardly with his left arm, looked at the pedestal, and sighed. It was clear what he had to do.

For the first time, Hyrule was able to give one of his brothers a proper goodbye. Sky gave him and Legend each an awkward hug, moreso because of his new body proportions than any emotional reason, and Hyrule found himself crying, Legend following along soon after. They spent as long as they dared proclaiming their love and apologies and promises of remembrance to each other, and then it was time. Legend wrapped an arm around Hyrule’s shoulders as they watched Sky climb the platform. He turned over his shoulder and gave the boys one last smile as he raised the sword skyward. He flipped the hilt in his hold and plunged the blade down into the pedestal. In a flash of light, he was gone.

It didn’t take very long for Legend to lead the two of them back out of the Woods after that, knowing his way from there. They stumbled into Kakariko Village as the sun began to set, watching the townspeople go about their lives as they either headed home for the night or out to the tavern, and Hyrule had the urge to cry once more. They didn’t know what had just been saved. They didn’t know what had just been lost. They just carried on with their lives, oblivious.

Hyrule envied them.

Ravio wasn’t there when they entered Legend’s home, but neither of them said anything about it. Legend made them a quick dinner from some questionable milk and vegetables he found in his cabinet, throwing in a dash of red potion just in case, and they ate it with matching grimaces and distant eyes. They slept curled up in Legend’s bed that night, neither willing to let the other go. Legend was all Hyrule had left. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was the same on Legend’s end as well.

Hyrule stayed up as long as he possibly could that night, terrified of what the next day might bring. At one point in the night, he opened his eyes and found Legend staring at him with a heartbroken expression. They locked eyes, and Hyrule knew that fear wasn’t just his own. Legend was just as scared.

He finally gave in to sleep as the sun was beginning to rise again. Legend had dropped off a few hours prior, but Hyrule still hadn’t been ready to give in to slumber.

When he woke, he found himself alone. He started crying before he realized that he still knew where he was. He finally registered that there were sounds coming from the next room, and he wiped the tears from his face, only for them to be quickly replaced. He carefully made his way over to the door, hesitating with his hand on the knob. The distinct sounds of cooking reached his ears, and he smiled gently.

Taking a deep breath in a fruitless effort to calm himself, he pushed open the door, Legend turning to face him with a tired smile at the sound. Hyrule felt himself smile back, tears still freely falling. Legend abandoned the vegetables he’d been chopping on the counter and came over to wrap him in a warm hug. He spoke gentle words, his arms around Hyrule’s shaking body even gentler. He pulled back and Hyrule saw pride and love in his eyes. Hyrule didn’t hesitate to rest his head on his brother’s shoulder. He lifted his hands, blood staining Legend’s back where they rested, and closed his eyes.

Even after all he’d been through—all the loss, the pain, the heartbreak—he was still standing. That had to mean something, right? That he was still here, that he’d survived where his brothers had fallen? That his eyes opened to greet each new day when the eyes of all those he loved would never open again?

Well, not all those he loved.

He pulled away, letting Legend go back to cooking as he sat himself down at the table. He watched his brother prepare their food, noting that he’d gotten fresher ingredients. He must have gone to the village while Hyrule was asleep. He didn’t know why the thought threatened to make him cry again.

For as long as Hyrule could remember, he had been alone. But now, as he watched his brother struggle to cook a meal that would be nutritional and tasty enough to keep the two of them going, he somehow knew.

He would never be alone again.

**Author's Note:**

> Well…at least it wasn’t more crack.


End file.
